[7x Rank-E] All In A Good Day's Work

Despite her love for lounging and savoring life’s finer comforts, Nora Kumori’s nature as a truly industrious person couldn’t be denied. You see, the previous day at the academy, Nora, alongside the other students - most much younger than her, she truly was an outlier - were assigned ‘Missions’. Well, missions only formally, they were more akin to menial tasks that could be entrusted upon green academy students.

Nora, always one to outdo herself and try to prove something, decided to linger at the back of the queue as these missions were assigned to each student. The Chunin at the desk’s expression quickly changed from quiet disappointment to quiet disbelief when Nora requested for every remaining mission at the desk. The man’s raised eyebrow was only met by a deadpan “Trust me I’m serious” look from the girl. Somewhat amused, the superior Shinobi simply unceremoniously dumped a stack of thin scrolls onto the desk. Nora, stoic, simply flashed a polite smile, bowed gracefully and collected the scrolls in her arms before making her way out.

Now it was a brand new day however, and she had to go through all of these tasks. After a simple breakfast - eggs and black tea - she collected her belongings and scrolls and made her way outside, observing as the sky brightened as the sun slowly rose from beyond the horizon, thickly obscured by dense fog. It was going to be a long day…

But she has bills to pay. Time to get her hands dirty.

Having neatly organized her scrolls the night before based on the time of day and estimated duration of each mission, Nora embarked on her first task of the day: assisting a photographer. Never one to waste any time, she attempted to utilize the body flicker technique she had observed some graduated Genin using. However, her initial attempt was less than graceful, resulting in a near collision with a wall. She cursed softly, dusted herself off, and decided she needed more practice with that particular technique.

Upon reaching the designated location, a simple studio building, Nora spotted the photographer inside, adjusting his large camera. She approached him with a slight bow and introduced herself, "Good morning, I am Nora Kumori. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She retrieved her scroll from her pouch and handed it to him. "I have been assigned to assist you this morning. Shall we get to work?"

The photographer didn’t react in the slightest, his gaze fixed on his camera, and he simply waved his hand dismissively. "All the photography equipment is over there. Set up a backdrop." Undeterred by his curt response, Nora nodded and made her way in the direction he had indicated. Inside a closet-like room, she found a chaotic assortment of poorly organized equipment. She grumbled softly but quickly located the necessary items - a few rods, clamps, and a long roll of white cloth - to construct a backdrop.

Upon her return, Nora found the photographer already in position with his camera, a woman in a modest dress holding a bouquet ready for her appointment. The photographer gestured impatiently at Nora. "Hurry up."

Mouthing a quiet apology, Nora rushed to set up the backdrop. Over the next few hours, the photographer's requests continued in a similar vein, with him demanding new backdrops and props as a constant stream of similarly dressed individuals arrived for their photographs - a series of portraits for an upcoming event or commemoration, Nora presumed.

As time passed, the photographer's requests became more abrupt and snappy, with him frequently changing his mind and demanding new compositions from Nora. She complied without complaint, adapting swiftly to each new request. By the final hour of her shift, they worked together seamlessly, like a well-oiled machine.

"It seems we are ahead of schedule," the photographer remarked suddenly, as the last subject left the studio. Neatly organized film rolls sat by a nearby table, ready for development, and the equipment Nora had utilized throughout her shift was now noticeably more organized. Nora nodded in agreement, approaching the photographer. "What would you have me do now?" she inquired, her arms crossed behind her back. The photographer pondered for a moment, scratching his chin. "Would you care for a photo?"

If Nora was surprised, she didn’t show it. She pondered for a few moments, she hadn't dressed for a formal photo shoot, as she had opted for a casual and straightforward outfit. However, professional photography appointments were typically expensive... She nodded in agreement and gathered a few items, creating a backdrop for herself. Without the need for words, Nora posed cross-armed in front of the camera, and the photographer gave her a nod of approval.

With that, he retrieved the scroll she had handed him earlier and quickly signed it. "Thank you for your service. I'll make sure to put in a good word for you. You may leave," he said curtly before returning to his camera adjustments. While some might interpret his curtness as rudeness, Nora understood that the photographer simply had no patience for idle chatter, and his words were his way of offering praise. Satisfied with her work, she rolled up the scroll and exited the studio.

Leaving the photography studio, Nora collected the scroll for her second mission of the day and briefly skimmed its contents once more. This time, it was a much more straightforward task—a simple delivery. Her mission involved retrieving a shipment of choice cuts of meat for the late Mizukage's hounds. It struck her as an unusual task, but she didn't dwell on it for long. Without hesitation, she made her way to her designated location, which happened to be none other than Kirigakure's Penitentiary and Intelligence Agency - a place she had always admired for its unique line of work.

Entering the expansive compound's reception area, she approached one of the supervisors who was sipping coffee while engrossed in a spreadsheet. Nora cleared her throat and introduced herself politely, "Nora Kumori, reporting for duty. I am supposed to collect a shipment of meat for the Mizukage's hounds?"

The supervisor glanced up from her work and simply nodded. "You must be one of the academy students," she affirmed, while shuffling through some loose pages on her desk. "Hasabuto's Butchery, located on the corner of 23rd Street and Yuki Avenue. Here's the promissory note for the value of the merchandise and the order sheet. See you soon."

Respectfully bowing, Nora accepted the two documents and left the reception area. The address she had been provided was quite a distance away. Once again, in an attempt to shorten her travel time, she attempted to use the Body Flicker technique, but this time it resulted in her stumbling forward and nearly rolling her ankle. She sighed in frustration but decided to continue with a light jog to conserve her energy.

Upon her arrival at Hasabuto's Butchery, she greeted the employee at the counter and handed over the documents. He returned her greeting cheerfully and soon reappeared with a substantial shipment of meat, neatly packaged in a double-layered bag. The bag was dropped over the counter with a resounding thud. Gulping, Nora struggled to lift the bag - Physical strength was not one of her strong points, and it would likely never be. After several attempts, witnessed by an amused butcher, she finally managed to hoist the bag over her shoulders, wrapping it around the back of her neck. It wasn’t a very comfortable position, but it worked.

This time jogging was out of the question - with the late morning sun bearing on her, she more or less stumbled forward all the way back, sweat building on her brow and exhaustion setting in. Along the way, she couldn't help but ponder the practicality of feeding the late Mizukage's hounds with the finest and most expensive cuts of prime beef. ‘I Guess none can understand the whims of the rich and powerful…’ she concluded.

Finally, after nearly an hour walking, Nora arrived back at her destination. She hoisted the bag over the reception desk with a deep inhale, catching her breath. No further words needed to be exchanged, as the supervisor who had received her earlier handed her a signed scroll with a polite bow. Returning the gesture with a smile, Nora made her way outside the building, another mission successfully completed.

As Nora left the penitentiary complex, she glanced at the sun's position in the sky and frowned. She hoped she hadn't taken too long with the delivery; otherwise, she'd be late for her next mission. Quickening her pace, she arrived at the front porch of one of the more elegant houses in the civilian district just as an elderly but well-dressed woman stepped outside. Nora politely bowed and introduced herself for the third time that day. "Nora Kumori, presenting for duty. You requested assistance with your shopping today, ma'am?"

The woman, wearing a smug smile on her face, responded with a hint of condescension, raising her chin. "Oh, you've arrived on time for once. But dressed like that? Preposterous. You should have dressed appropriately for the occasion, young people these days..." Her words dripped with disdain. "But yes, I need you to carry my belongings. It's simply too undignified for me to do it myself."

Nora sighed lightly but nodded in agreement as the woman dismissively tossed her purse at her. She couldn’t help but imagine that the true words the woman ought to have spoken were ‘I’m too old to carry things and none of my children want to help me.’ But, nonetheless, Nora dutifully followed the woman.

The hustle and bustle of the midday was ramping up as the sun continued to rise to its apex in the sky, the fog that once heavily permeated the village was gone for a moment - but it wouldn't take long before returning. As they walked down the shopping district's streets, Nora took account of the village that surrounded her - It was certainly a much more stable environment than what she had once been so used to. The village guard was constantly active and it truly felt like a safe place, given a few exceptions. While the odd homeless person could be found it wasn’t like some places she had seen, where hordes of children begged for money or food… A small smile formed on her face, she wondered if this peace would last forever.

Still, duty summoned her back from her thoughts as the woman barged into the first store and immediately began tossing clothing at her, treating her no highly as one would a serf. The woman then took her time trying out each piece of garment, before almost infallibly declaring that it wasn’t up to her standards, forcing Nora to dump them on a counter - a demand that made Nora physically cringe. Leaving things disorganized just wasn’t something she could bear to do, and her attempts at folding and organizing everything back in its place of belonging were fruitless as she resigned to deeply apologizing to the employees as soon as she was out of the woman’s sight.

This same pattern followed for a couple hours more, with bags and bags of the most assorted merchandise building up on Nora’s arms, from clothing to jewelry to groceries. As the midday lunch rush subsided, so did the woman’s shopping spree. Eventually, she decided that she was done for the day and had Nora drop her purchases off at her residence, all the while she continued to make dismissive, rude remarks about Nora - From her shabby looks, to her haggard clothing, to her stupid glasses, to her ugly scars and even how she was too old to be an academy student, finishing off with a ‘The entire younger generation is stupid!’ remark, but Nora persevered.

Finally, after dropping off the merchandise at the woman’s home, the woman signed the scroll and tossed it flippantly at her, all but slamming the door in Nora’s face. Nora, for her credit, managed to hold it in long enough to get to a secluded alley - Wherein she then let out her frustrations by yelling out into the void and punching a wall.

Frustrated after the end of her previous mission, Nora had to take a moment herself to recompose - Brushing stray strands of hair off of her face, adjusting her clothing, wiping her glasses off and giving herself a mental pep-talk. She skimmed the words off of her mission scroll as she had done many times today, just to recollect the contents, and soon began making her way to her next appointment - ‘Perhaps another try at the Body Flicker wouldn’t hurt…’ She thought, but alas, once again she was wrong, and this time she flung herself forward with too much force, falling to her knees - Thankfully nobody was around to watch that. She picked herself up and resigned to simply walking to her next destination.

A few minutes of walking later, she was faced by a pretty nondescript warehouse at the edges of the industrial district, and walking inside she quickly spotted a smartly dressed man, not a day older than 20, who seemed to just have returned from a lunch break, with an apron tossed over his shoulder as he organized some materials strewn about in the cluttered warehouse.

“Nora Kumori, presenting for duty. You’ve requested some help packaging salt for export, correct?” She inquired, and the man simply nodded. “That’s right. You’re quite early too, I was just done getting myself a breather.” He said, throwing his apron back on and trying it at the back, then gesturing to a setup with hundreds - if not thousands - of glass vials. “This here is what we’ll be doing for the next four hours or so. I’ll be on this side measuring each individual portion, and you’ll deposit each sample into one of the vials, seal it off with a cap, crimp it and place a label.” He said, and then demonstrated, filling and sealing one of the vials. “Got it?”

“Yes sir.” Nora affirmed, nodding, and getting into position. Their work started seamlessly, and Nora took only a few moments to get into a good rhythm, effortlessly following the chemist’s pace. Still, it seemed as if he could feel some of Nora’s tension. “Bad day, huh?” He asked between weighing samples, and Nora nodded politely. “Not quite, more of an unfriendly character, I’d say.” The man hummed in agreement. “Happens to all of us. So, you’re an academy student, then? Don’t see many as old as you around, how come?”

Nora hummed to herself. The man was friendly enough - but she still didn’t want to share her life story with any random schmo she met. After a moment of thought, she responded, “I only found my talent later in life. I led a civilian life until fairly recently.” The chemist nodded in return, “Good for you, I hear this whole Shinobi business has really good money. Still, most of you don’t look the kind to be doing this just for the money, right?”

Nora nodded her head - an insightful assumption indeed. “You’d be correct. I have some greater goals in life - The money helps, but I also want to… be strong.” The man simply tilted his head, and then chuckled to himself. “That’s fair enough, don’t we all?”

After that brief conversation, their work continued for hours in quiet but comfortable silence, only disturbed by the sound of clinking glass and metallic shuffling as they efficiently worked through the entirety of the merchandise that had to be packaged - Nora was rather fond of these simple, repetitive tasks.

“Aaaaaaaand that seems to be it. You did good, normally the kids they send me take ages to get the hang of it.” The chemist concluded, dusting his hands in his apron, as Nora crimped and labeled the last of the vials, neatly stacking it with others on a cart. “Here’s your scroll, have yourself a mighty fine day, will ya?” Nora politely smiled and bowed, gracefully accepting the scroll. “You too, it was a pleasure working with you.” With that, the man nodded and carted the vials off, and Nora departed towards her next task.

Time seemed to have flown while Nora was cooped up in that warehouse, as there was no window to the outside beyond the front gate. Now the day was coming to an end as the sun approached the horizon. Still, Nora was ahead of her schedule, and took a few moments to freshen up and grab a bite of food to eat before heading off for her next mission - It was a Bank job, how fancy.

No more than a half hour later, Nora presented herself at the reception, and was directed to a busy looking manager, who checked her credentials and gave her a run-down of the duties being given to her - and it was nothing more than a list of menial, but necessary tasks. ‘Looks like it’s cheaper to pawn off an Academy Student with full liability than to hire a full time custodian, huh.’ She mused.

Still undeterred, Nora mentally organized and listed off her tasks, watching as the last of the daytime employees filed out of the building, leaving behind only her as well as the nighttime security detail. She set out on her first, most pressing task - while no currency was left under her supervision (She was, of course, an academy student) she was expected to round up, collect and properly secure any important documents forgotten on that floor, stowing them away in the designated locker, a task that was quickly accomplished after a swift round-up of any forgotten documents.

Then, she began the custodian part of this work - taking a rough sweep of the building taking care of the most major issues, like lining up the desks, pushing chairs back to their positions, collecting the larger pieces of debris and trash on the floor and stowing away office supplies. She then properly cleaned the place, mopping the floor, taking out the trash, wiping down the desks and dusting off the grimier surfaces, tasks that each took a bit of time due to the scale of the building.

Wiping sweat off of her brow, readying herself to finish this mission off, she checked the lobby and bathroom for any stray clients - thankfully none were found - and then ensured that every door or drawer that had to be locked was locked, calling upon the help of one of the security personnel when she found any that were forgotten to be locked.

After making sure that everything inside was in compliance with her orders, she stepped outside. It was the early hours of nighttime by then - the last of the sun’s brightness disappearing into the horizon beneath the fog. All these simple but lengthy tasks had eaten away at time, and she barely noticed it. In all honesty, this hadn’t been what Nora had expected when she read “Bank Work”, and she hoped she’d be behind the desk rather than cleaning it next time.

Still, she finalized her duties after making a quick perimeter of the building, simply making sure nothing was out of the ordinary, and then approached the security manager - A Chunin, she assumed - who signed off her scroll and sent her off. The early nighttime streets were still busy with activity, and Nora walked off to her next task.

Nora came to the second-to-last mission for the day, and it was coming onto a good time to do it too - Clearing the sand that had accumulated in the streets. As the people’s activities for the day wound down and most shops and avenues closed their doors for the night, there wouldn’t be as many people passing by or undoing her work.

She unfurled the scroll, passing her eyes by the names of the streets she was assigned to clean and began making her way there - By this point, she was itching for another attempt at the Body Flicker Technique. She was sure she was about to make it ‘click’. So, she stopped in her tracks, and deeply focused while she made Ram hand-seal. She pictured herself about ten yards ahead, and then pulsed her chakra, and- It worked! Well, sort of. Her body lurched forward at the torso, with her limbs and head almost staying behind, and felt quite discombobulated by the time she came to a halt - but this time she didn’t stumble, fall or crash into something. Progress! She just needed a bit more practice, that’s all.

Still, while a bit giddy at finally having reasonably executed the Body Flicker, she had to get back to her work - This time she decided to just keep walking, too, better not spoil her luck and crash headfirst into a pole. As she arrived at the first of the streets she froze in her tracks; She had not been given or assigned any cleaning supplies at all, and anyone she could’ve asked for them, well, they weren’t available as this mission was meant to be signed off the following day directly at the mission desk. Well this was awkward.

Not one to be deterred by small problems, Nora spotted a broom left forgotten outside a shop that had since closed down for the night, and decided to ‘borrow’ it. It wasn’t the biggest or the best but it ought to suffice, she thought to herself. And so she began dutifully sweeping the streets of the fine layer of sand that accumulated, like sand does in coastal cities, street after street, gutter after gutter, and as she did so, small piles of sand were collected and left in her wake.

Well, this posed yet another issue for the adolescent girl, who started thinking about possible ways to solve her conundrum - Sweeping it all back to the beach or outside the city was simply not doable, and there weren’t any empty lots that she could dump sand into this far inside the city. Her mind rolled back to a lesson about Fuinjutsu, the art of seals, where she was acquainted with the concept of Storage Seals - one such seal would be just what she needed for this situation, but Nora didn’t possess any such thing, and she had no idea how to even start the construction of something like that. So, she resigned to simply dumping the sand… in the external dumpsters and trash bins, be they privately owned or city owned. Hey, the scroll said she had to get rid of the sand on the streets, it didn’t say anything about sand in the dumpsters, it would have to do.

Having found a solution for her problems, Nora continued her simple yet calm task, sweeping the streets of any sand, watching on as the last of the shops closed down for the night and the last of the villagers made their way home after a day’s work, as the lights dimmed and the fog thickened. It was calm, quiet and serene, just like she loved.

As she unceremoniously dumped off the last of the sand into a dumpster and returned the ‘borrowed’ (Now much more worn out) broom back to its location of origin, she departed for her last mission of the night.

Nora’s final mission for the day led her to the monument dedicated to Xyxer Gyogin, Kirigakure’s first Mizukage. In all honesty, she doesn’t know much about the late Kage. In her defense, Kirigakure was already under the rule of the eight Mizukage, and the history books weren’t very conclusive. Perhaps it’d simply been something she missed due to not having been born in Kiri, but it looked like the older generation of Shinobi still held a great deal of respect for the man.

Nora’s task was just as straightforward as the last one - simply, clean the monument. However, its location was rather unfortunate in the eyes of maintenance - the ocean caused corrosion and tarnish over the entire surface of the statue, and the seagulls seemed to have done quite a number on the man’s likeness. As grimy as any structure this close to the sea ought to be.

Standing at the base of the statue that towered over her and the closest buildings, she pondered. Ordinarily, it would have been a daunting task, but with a small smirk on her face, Nora knew she had some tricks up her sleeve that a civilian didn’t. The first of which was one of the Shinobi’s hallmark foundational techniques, the Surface Walking technique.

The process of focusing her Chakra at the base of her feet and sticking from a surface was one that she had long theorized about, and often attempted to practice, but she supposed this was as good a time for any to get a trial-by-fire of the technique. She gently placed her foot on the side of the statue, and attempted to lift herself from the floor - The instructions had told that it was best if she just ran at the thing she was trying to climb, and she couldn’t help but feel like that was ridiculous, her method was much better. It was tricky to get the balance of Chakra correct at first, especially in the damp surface, but after some trial and error and a few slips, Nora was able to take one step up, and then another, and another, alternating the flow of chakra between each leg to climb all the way up to the statue’s head.

While she was immensely pleased with herself due to her small success, adrenaline pumped in her veins - some close calls on the way up could be attributed to that. Thus, she didn’t stop for a moment and proceeded to attempt step two of her impromptu plan - Focusing some Chakra on her throat, she made the Monkey hand seal and recalled some instructions she had read on a scroll - then, she blowed out, as if spitting something, and a small gush of water followed. A raised eyebrow, she adjusted her posture and felt the flow of her Chakra change too, and attempted once again - this time producing a respectable stream of pressurized water with the Fish Spit technique, if not a particularly weak stream. Smiling to herself, she began washing away at the top of the statue - something that, as she had theorized, was completely effortless with the help of pressurized water.

The truly difficult - and scary - part of her plan was washing away at the sides of the monument, as she would have to utilize the Fish Spit technique at the same time as she practiced her Surface Walking technique, something that was a lot harder than she could have ever expected, and she either failed on producing a decent Fish Spit technique, or she lost her grip on the Surface Walking - one particularly close call had her hanging of one off of the statues arms, forcing her to drop to the ground with a roll and climb her way back up, after letting her heart calm down of course.

But, not one to give up so easily, Nora kept trying the same thing over and over until she had successfully been able to clean off the statue’s entire surface with the use of the fish spit technique. Quite ingenious, she would think to herself. The final ask of the missing was clearing the debris that had accumulated around the base, but that was a simple task comparatively, and it was done in but a few moments.

It had been a rather long day - Nora had started her missions at the very break of dawn, and now ended it as the moon shone through the waves of fog and mist that covered the sky. She was sitting cross legged on top Xyxer’s statue, admiring Kiri’s nighttime ambiance - she didn’t pay attention to it the first time she climbed up, but up there, with the thinner fog, she could see a wonderful outline of Kirigakure’s buildings as they sprawled on, Lights and signage shining through it… It was a rather beautiful sight.

She was brought out of her musings as her stomach growled, loudly. It was only then that she had realized that the only food she had today was breakfast and a small bite to eat before departing for the Bank mission - After all, she had lots of experience with staving off starvation, so this was no big issue, but she still craved a meal after a long day’s work.

And that was exactly what she did - she made her departure and headed straight home. She bathed, cooked herself a meal, cleaned up, and set herself to sleep after reading a few more pages of the newest novel she had purchased, the same routine as every day.

The very next morning, as the Academy opened up again, Nora darted to the mission desk set up there to hand in all seven finished mission scrolls.

“All in a good day’s work.”